The End of the Plumbing Problems?

In previous posts I have written about the plumbing problem that I have had in the condo.  The kitchen floor has been periodically flooding, even though there are no leaks in the pipes under the sink, and I have not used the dishwasher.  The water, which had particles of food in it, had to be coming from the next door neighbor whose kitchen shares a wall and pipes with my kitchen.  I was told that the problem was caused by a clog in the neighbor's sink, but I did not understand how a clog could be causing flooding in my kitchen.  

When the plumber came last week he really couldn't solve the problem because the people next door were not at home and he was not able to check things out on their side.  As a temporary fix he had disconnected my dishwasher and sealed the water pipe that connects to it .  That really didn't make sense to me either.  Although the water seemed to be coming from under the dishwasher, the inside of the appliance was always dry.  Nevertheless between Friday and Monday there was no flooding.

Well, the plumber returned yesterday, and the neighbor had been notified that he needed to be there too.  The plumber removed the seal from the water pipe, and had them run the sink next door.  There was no water coming out on my side.  The situation was finally explained to me in a manner that I understood.  The tube leading from my dishwasher to the water pipe was not as tight a fit as it should be.  When the neighbor's sink was clogged the standing water was backing up into the pipe to my dishwasher, seeping out through the loose connection, and flowing under the dishwasher and out onto the floor.  Apparently the clog has dissolved, and there is no longer a problem.  I should call the plumber to make sure that he sealed that loose connection so that this problem does not recur if there is another clog.  I think I saw him seal that connection with putty.

I got to meet my neighbors.  The husband was friendly enough, and he told me to email him if there should be any more problems.  The wife, however, had a superior attitude when talking with the plumber.  I hate it when people look down at "the help", and that is something that you see far too often among the upper classes in Mexico.  She insisted that the clog could not have come from them since they rarely prepare food in the apartment.  I thought to myself, "Lady, you might not be doing the cooking, but you definitely are eating in the apartment, and food is going down your drain."  You see, the day that I arrived at the condo, I ran into the cleaning lady from next door.  We started chatting, and she was talking about the clog in the sink.  She also said that the owners always leave a whole week's worth of dishes for her to wash when she comes to clean!  I didn't say anything to the wife, but I thought, "You can't lower yourself to wash some dishes?  You leave it all for your maid!"